Deceased Relative. Uncashed out-of-date cheques

[BadgerB]

Have had to clear the flat of a relative who has recently died. Going through piles & piles of papers - he was a hoarder - we have found a cheque for £450 dated 2010 from the IR, and one from the local council for overpaid CT for £300 dated 2009. He died intestate and I am adminstrator. Is there any chance that they will be re-issued, I need to do my best for everyone involved?

Is it true that cheques are only valid for six months?

No. A cheque is valid for as long as the debt between the two parties (i.e. issuer and payee) exists. In other words, cheques don’t have an expiration date. However, it is common banking practice to reject cheques that are over six months old to protect the payer, in case the payment has been made another way or the cheque may have been lost or stolen.

This timeframe is at the discretion of individual banks. It should not be assumed that cheques older than six months old would automatically be rejected – the only certain way to cancel a cheque is to request that a stop be placed on it. It is recommended that, if possible, customers in possession of cheques that are more than six months old obtain a replacement.

Where there is a dispute, a cheque remains legally valid in order to prove a debt for a period of six years, which is the Statute of Limitations.
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Shame on both these organisations if they never made a phone call to remind him to cash them or to check he received them!

Thank you Shia.
I think I will try to get them re-issued because his bank a/c is now frozen, of course, so there is nowhere to pay in cheques in his name.

Even if account is frozen you can usually pay money in, even if you can't get it out. You will need to send a letter asking for the cheque to be reissued, with a copy of the grant of representation and the old cheque.

If you are the Administrator then presumably you have opened an administrator's account at the bank to deal with matters such as this . How else will you deal with payments to and from the estate? You then get the cheques reissued in the name of "X as Administrator for estate of Y deceased."

I deal with these in work quite often (local council) for rent or council tax refunds.

It might be useful to phone in advance as they might be able to do some quick checks for you there and then and tell you who to write in to but it's unlikely they will actually process anything without a written request and the supporting documents.

Send the cheque in with covering letter to explain relative is deceased and you have found cheque/s . If you have copy of death cert send that too. If you are executor or been granted letters if administration send a copy of relevant documents.
This will aid the administration of issuing a replacement cheque. If there's an executors account already set up send the details of a/c no and sort code and they will probably pay by BACS.

Where I work if there was only a small estate and no will or no grant of probate or letters of administration and no executors account then they can pay it to you but then you may have to sign a waiver document and provide some proof you are the responsible person / next of kin like a copy of a funeral bill if it's in your name etc but that may vary between different organisations and they may have different requirements. Again I would ask all this when you ring so you can provide whatever documentation is needed.

It is possible that if the cheque is quite old it may already have been reported as lost by realise while still alive and a replacement sent to your relative which has been cashed, so there may be some checking of accounting records before the payment is reissued. Obviously if payment had already been made there will be nothing further to pay.